Modgens
by Wonder Jenny
Summary: Spoilers for Wizard's Dilemma, The next chapter has finally come into existence. Please don't have a heart attack, that would make me sad.
1. Default Chapter

Nita looked up, startled, as Dairine dashed into her room

Disclaimer: I don't own Kit, (Drat!) Nita, Dairine, Spot, Harry, Betty, Ponch, or anything/one else you recognize.(Or will after you read TWD.)

Very much thanks to [Dani][1] for being my beta reader.:-)What would happen to us FF.N-ers if we didn't have beta readers…

Nita looked up, startled, as Dairine dashed into her room.Without knocking, of course."Da-_ri…_" she began, but her sister cut her off."Neets, they've violated the status quo.They weren't supposed to come, but they _did…_" she paused, breathing deeply and sinking into a chair.

"Dairine, you are making zero sense.Who?"Nita demanded impatiently, angry at being interrupted.

She stood and turned toward her sister, catching sight as she did so of eerie green light seeping under the curtain.She had seen that color light but once before; it had been radiating from a certain type of alien life.A certain type of very dangerous alien life._"Modgens."_Nita breathed, and gave Dairine a stricken look."What the heck are we sitting here for?Don't Tom and Carl need all the wizards in the area?"Nita jumped toward the door.Dairine put a restraining hand on her sister's arm."Nita."

"_What_, Dari?"Nita said, fidgeting and biting her lip.She knew from personal experience just how much damage Modgens could cause, the havoc they could create. 

"Nita, the Modgens have already been spotted."Dairine shook the hair out of her eyes, in a helpless gesture.Just like when her mother had just been diagnosed with cancer, she was feeling useless.

"Oh _no_—but just by one or two people, right?"Nita held her breath, willing her sister to give an affirmative response.A negative one, she knew, would mean months, perhaps years of work for the wizards in the area.Who could tell, it might become top priority of the wizards in _China_.The entire world could be ruined.

"Nita, there are about a hundred people out there listening to an extraterrestrial speak their language, and that includes several TV men."Dairine clutched Spot to her chest, a very different version of a security blanket.

_"Speak their language?"_Nita ignored the TV men part, just for the moment.She had a sinking feeling she wouldn't be able to do that for long.

"Uh-huh."Dairine put her head in her hands.

"We _have _to go Dairine._You _know and _I_ know that if humans stay too close to… _them_ too long…"  
She shook at the thought.

Having come so close to losing her mother, she was aware of exactly what you went through when someone close to you was in critical condition.Nita was unwavering in her duty to keep that from happening to anyone else, as much as she could._Like you kept it from happening to Pralaya's family? _an ironic voice mocked her from the very back of her mind._Shut.Up._,she told it fiercely.

Dairine gave her a look that said, _Get a life._"So," she asked pleasantly, "What, _exactly,_ do you plan to do?"

Nita stopped."Er." 

"My point precisely."Dairine declared triumphantly.

"But we have to go, at least.So we can grab a person away if..."And there she stopped, not wanting to say or think what could happen if the wizards couldn't get rid of the Modgens. 

"Where's Kit?" Dairine asked absently, promptly launchinginto a long string of instructions to Spot, in a tongue that even Nita didn't understand.

Quicklife Language was near to impossible for ordinary people to learn, and very difficult for wizards.Of course, Dairine wasn't any ordinary wizard.She knew the Quicklife Language at least as well as English.

Nita called her partner, mind-to-mind."He's off in one of those fantasy universes he keeps creating with Ponch," she reported sadly, having learned to recognize when this was the case.

Since the battle against her mother's cancer, she had been reluctant to do much of anything wizardly without the aid of her best friend.She was still afraid she'd slip up again.The last time had been far too close…

"Oh, well…We can survive without his help, for a few hours."Dairine took a deep breath; she wasn't half as reckless or confident as she had been just a few months before.

Nita's words had come very true.Dairine had started with more power than usual, and was having a harder-than-usual decline; and though Nita and Kit had long ago gotten used to the fact that they couldn't throw away much power without possible dangerous consequences, Dairine was still adjusting.

From the living room, where Nita's folks were watching television, there came a loud, "Holy crap!" from her dad.Nita and Dairine looked at each other, and took off in that direction.Skidding to a stop in front of the TV, their looks were now horrified.

"Uh, we have to go!'Bye!"Dairine shot out the door.Nita followed, feeling guilty at the expression of worry on her mother's face."I'll explain later!" she called, trying to make amends.

"I trust you two, sweetie," her mom yelled back, "but _be careful!_"

  
"Yeah," Nita replied.She had more important things to do than get annoyed at her mother, whom she found a lot less annoying than she had before, anyway._Knowing you're going to lose someone, _she thought, _I mean, lose them really soon, makes so much difference._

And she hurt all over just making her mother worry more than she should have to.

"What do we do about the TV peoples?"Nita wanted to know.

"Neets,"Dairine said in the tone of voice a frustrated teacher spoke to a slow child,"They haven't had this big a story since… um…"

"Our Ordeal?"Nita suggested.

"Something like that.I'd still say that aliens on a thus far isolated planet is bigger news than the Sun going out, though.The point being, we can do nothing."

"At least apparently isolated," Nita corrected with a grin."And they did get a hold of other landings.It's just that the creatures have never come up to us and shaken hands… or whatever they happen to have.And that reminds me, what if someone touches a Modgen?" 

Dairine slowed for a second, then doubled her original speed."Then we make excuses to their family, and pay their funeral expenses?" she offered.Her smile was very grim, and even a non-wizardly stranger would have been able to tell she was serious.

Nita, Dairine, I hope you have a lot of money; these ordinary humans are sort of clueless about being cautious around aliens.I just have this strong urge to call them Muggles and get it over with…

Okay, if you people liked this (I am not a mind reader.If you don't TELL me if you liked it, I won't get the message.) then I'll add more chapters.But I'm not going to waste effort writing if it's all for naught. 

Also: if I can possibly do it, I'm going to get Nita+Kit romance in here somewhere.I'm so very obsessed with those two.Especially since Ronan was mentioned a grand total of (drum roll) **two** times in the four-hundred-and-three-page The Wizard's Dilemma.I think Nita got over him.YES!Time to CELEBRATE, people!Whatever Nita+Ronan shippers there are out there, go find yourselves another party.:p

Wonder Jenny

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=directory-authorProfile&userid=46861



	2. The chapter you thought would never happ...

Author's Notes: This takes place about, oh, an hour or so before the Modgens were discovered.  

I'm sure you're all wondering why this took sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomajor snipoooooooooooooooooooooooooo dang long.  Well, it all started one day when this talking bat attacked me…

Huge thanks must be given to Dani for beta-ing.  Thanks, Dani!

Since Dani has been sick, and hasn't had time to go over this with a fine-tooth comb, I'm taking my life (well, my reputation) in my hands and posting this anyway.  (*sends Dani cyberhug*  Get better soon!)

Kit frowned bemusedly at his copy of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare".  It was lying open on his floor; he had nearly stepped on it.  He knew he had not left it _that _way, as he distinctly remembered placing it on the built-in bookshelf above his bed.  And anyway, _he_ for one did not leave books on the floor.  Clothes, homework maybe, but never books. 

"'Mela!" Kit shouted.  "Stay the heck away from my room."  ...He hadn't hidden his manual…  

"Wasn't me!" Carmela yelled back.

"Bull," Kit muttered, nevertheless knowing it was useless to pursue the point.

A wet nose nudged Kit's leg; he absently reached down to pat Ponch on the head.  "She smells funny," Ponch announced.  

"Carmela?"  Kit snickered softly.  "Don't doubt it…"

_"She_ smells funny," Ponch insisted.

Kit sighed.  "Who?"  

"_Her!"  Ponch barked helplessly, then paused.  Cyene hadn't been created with wizardly conversations in mind.  "Come see."_

Kit looked at Ponch for a moment.  He had rarely—if _ever_—been at a loss for what to call someone.  Even if his only reasonable choice was "Human," he would use it.  

But staring became impossible, as Ponch vanished through the door; and Kit followed him, if for no other reason than curiosity.  

Kit jumped the last stair, and trailed after Ponch.  Ponch went into the kitchen, and Kit experienced momentary doubt that "she" existed.  He promptly changed his mind at the sight of a girl sitting at the table, about eleven years old, staring into space, chewing on a lock of her auburn hair.  She wore an intense expression; if she was daydreaming, Kit had yet to encounter a daydream such as the one she was having.

"Hey?" Kit said, his voice betraying his shock at finding a kid sitting in his kitchen.  

He glanced down when a bright green stick caught his attention; it was his mother's favorite pen.  He stooped to pick it up, wincing as his hand banged into the chair, and gazed back up at the girl. She looked at him for a second, anger clouding her brown eyes.  Then, with one frightened glance at Ponch, she slipped off the chair and went into the living room; Kit moved to follow her.  

Then stopped.  

His skin began to sting where he had touched the chair.  He glanced at his hand, and his heart skipped a beat.  It was, to say the least, not a pretty sight.  Bright red, with bumps welling up.  Kit sat down abruptly at one of the kitchen chairs, the furthest from the one _she_ had been sitting in, and breathed deeply for a moment.   Then, like any good wizard, he ran back up to his room, with Ponch panting beside him, and opened his manual. Kit commenced a search for the answer to even one of the many questions that had flooded his brain.

_Who was the girl?_

What_ was the girl?_

_What was wrong with his hand?_  He had a sneaking suspicion that if it got anywhere near anything resembling solid matter, the skin would tear, and was holding it as far away from things as possible.

_What had Ponch meant when he'd said she smelled funny?_

The creaking of the door startled Kit enough that he whirled around without bothering to make sure that his hand touched nothing.  It scraped against Ponch's fur.  The skin tore.  Kit didn't even notice, since the person responsible for opening the door was also the one responsible for the pain in his hand.  Her.

Don't look at me that way.  I'm working on it.  I just happened to get stuck here.  

So that was a lie.  I did do that on purpose.  But the next chapter should be up soon.  We've slowed down our unpacking enough so that I have time to write.  

If, however, it takes a while, remember that I have a million things to figure out here.  Everything from what the girl was doing in Kit's house to what she wanted with "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare".  Happily, though, my Muse and I have gotten over our little argument over what color hair the girl should have, and so we're speaking again.

Disclaimer: If I'm Diane Duane, we're all in trouble, because I have to have the next book finished by next fall.

Disclaimer 2:  The girl is not a Mary Sue.  She does not have special powers.  (I swear.  What, you don't believe me?  *pout*) She is not incredibly gorgeous.  I would never voluntarily allow Kit to fall in love with anyone but Nita. 

She ain't a Mary Sue.  She's actually a pretty minor character, honest.

**To anyone and everyone who's posted here:  I love you all. I know I really haven't been reviewing, but I luv ya anyhow, and don't let anyone convince you otherwise.**


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